Accessibility to new methodologies and different scientific disciplines offer new insights into skin biology and skin care product development, says Helen Knaggs
The anti-ageing phenomenon continues to gather momentum, with the worldwide market expected to reach $115.5bn by the end of 2010. And Asia Pacific is a big contributor to this as the second fastest growing area worldwide. Sales of anti-ageing cosmeceuticals were expected to rise by $1bn in the region between 2007 and 2010 and there is no sign of this growth abating.
The advent of the Human Genome Project, the development of better methodology for probing genetic material and the improvement in accessibility of these methods has collectively resulted in the generation of a large amount of scientific data describing individual genes, as well as families of genes.
Application of these methods to skin tissue has been no exception, with much of the available data coming from a variety of different techniques as methods have evolved and newer ones have become available. This has made it difficult to compare across studies and determine consistent findings. Additionally, the complexity of the skin tissue containing multiple cell types and many different proposed mechanisms for ageing make it hard for clear data interpretation.
Recent scientific advances include improvements in experimental methodologies and equipment as well as in the availability of these new methodologies, instrumentation and technologies. A good example of this is in the implementation of genomic techniques in many laboratories, as well as an increasing number of new companies that are offering ‘gene analysis’. This area is relatively new and is still evolving, aided over the last few years by the completion of a draft of the Human Genome in 2001.[1] This landmark discovery was followed up in 2003 with the publication in Nature and Science, outlining a more robust list of gene sequences.Indeed, the human genome is now thought to contain about 20,000 - 25,000 genes.[1]
Along with this work, there has been expansion in the availability of methodologies to study genes and gene expression. Previously, methods allowed only the study of one gene at a time, however the advent of newer alternative methods has enabled the analysis of tens of thousands of genes in a single experiment.[2] Much of this instrumentation required to investigate gene expression is small and compact enough to fit into laboratories worldwide, whilst being relatively affordable. Gene chips containing the probes for sequences of the entire human genome cost a few hundred dollars and provide information about gene expression profiles for a given tissue or cell type. However, the data can yield many false positives and needs to be considered and reviewed carefully.
For example, one question with microarray data which remains unsolved is the question of what is a meaningful change in gene expression, ie what fold change in gene expression is relevant biologically? Once genes of interest are identified, usually using microarrays, another method called RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) provides more reliable information on expression activity of specific genes and is more quantitative. Both microarray and RT-PCR experiments can be run in a relatively short space of time with easy to use standard kits. The power of these technological advances is in generating data on multiple genes in a single experiment.
Of course the ability to determine gene expression of the human genome has generated an enormous amount of published data investigating several thousand genes. The great increase in computational power and advances in the science of bioinformatics accompanying the development of genomic techniques has made it possible to manage and make sense of the large amount of gene expression data generated from a single experiment.
Whilst it is important to note that science provides new and different options for products, the final ‘judge’ of success will be the consumer. Will these scientific advances be meaningful to the consumer in terms of providing greater consumer benefit for skin condition and/or will the scientific discoveries be translated into something a consumer will find compelling enough to want to buy and use and then lead to repeat purchase?
Inevitably the modern consumer has changed over the last few years as a result of a more competitive marketplace, an increase in available information and knowledge via new communication channels such as the internet, as well as a growth in the choice and availability of products.
Thus in order to remain competitive there is a need for personal care companies to innovate and provide unique and distinctive products. The question to the industry is how to remain competitive, especially in today’s economic environment which is bringing to the forefront a new type of consumer – the ‘recessionista’. Research has shown that these consumers are still making purchases in personal care but the amount of disposable income they want to spend on personal care is smaller and expectations from a product are higher. This coupled with more available products means consumers have the power to be more demanding with their purchases.
These are exciting – yet challenging – times for product development. Easy accessibility to new methodologies and the application of different scientific disciplines are providing new insights into skin biology and revealing novel approaches for skin care products. The goal will be to use these new learnings to design safe, effective and affordable products to meet the needs of today’s consumers.
References
1.http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml
2. Venter JC et al, The Sequence of the human genome, 16, 1304-1351 Science (2001)
